CHS Art Student Aces AP Art Exam

The AP Studio Art: Drawing and Portfolio Exam was no easy undertaking last May, with only 16 students in the entire world earning every possible point. Among that elite few is Valley Stream Central High School senior Paola Parola, who achieved a perfect score and was recently congratulated by administrators after having been recognized in a letter from the College Board.

Looking across approximately 4.5 million AP Exams taken by 2.5 million U.S. public high school students in 2015, only 322 students earned every point possible on an AP Exam, a rare accomplishment.

Paola is currently taking AP Art: 2-D Design and has a history of accomplishments in the arts as well as in academics. She won first and second place distinctions at the 2015 New York State FBLA Competition and took first place achievements in the 2015 Best of Long Island Competition at the Hecksher Museum of Art, 2015 Go APE (Advanced Placement Exhibition) at the Art League of Long Island and 2015 Art Guild of Port Washington Competition. Paola earned second place honors in the 2014 Olympics of Visual Arts and is the fifth Congressional Art Award winner for 2015, which afforded her the opportunity to display her work in Washington D.C. at the walkway between the Senate Offices and the Capitol Building. She is one of 32 Select Artists in the AP Art Exhibit National Conference, and was also selected to the Energie Nouvelle Exhibition at the Ken Keleba Gallery in Manhattan.

AP Exams are based are reported on a 5-point scale, where a 5 is equivalent to a grade of A in the corresponding college course. Paola received the top score of 5. She plans on studying Illustration and aspires to be a Documentary Film Producer.